All tuckered out

After the long week of having all her siblings home and not getting regular naps like she should, this was Sidnie. She was attempting to watch a holiday movie with her siblings...

Decorating for Christmas

Of course as soon as Turkey day is over, the kids immediately start bugging us to put up the tree. [I know some get their decorations up before Thanksgiving, but I like to wait until after.] They don't always understand what it takes to get ready for that. One family tradition that we have is to give each child an ornament for Christmas. So, to put up the tree you must first have their new ornaments.

I had grand plans this summer to make a pirate themed ornaments like we saw on Ocracoke Island while visiting Captain Blackbeard's museum and gift shop while on our summer beach vacation. Of course, I'm not the artist in the family and the goal was to get my talented mother to help, but it never happened. Here are some pictures from the gift show that I wanted my mom to help me recreate...

A front view...
From the back...
A pirate in star form...

I never got to it. My mom was here briefly in August for Zack's baptism, but there wasn't time to get anything like that done and then I forgot about it until now. So instead, the kids had to settle for some nice natural wood ornaments we purchased at Michale's on Thanksgiving Day.

All the kiddos with their ornament gift...
The new ornaments...

We worked on decorating the whole house as well and James got the lights put up on the house outside. We are now officially the most festive house on our street. It looks good.

Peppy didn't mind one bit all the comotion that went on. He just curled right up on the couch with a Christmas stuffed moose and slept...

Thanksgiving

The friends we were going to have over for our Turkey feast on Thanksgiving ended up having a sick child, so we exchanged food with each other, but ate alone. The food was wonderful though. James is our resident poultry expert. He seasons the bird and stuffs it with the cornbread stuffing made by Kathie from Karen Olson's recipe. Lots of people complain that the white meat on a turkey is dry, so we cook our turkey upsidedown, so the juices can run into the white meat. The trick is always flipping the bird in the end. Here is our Turkey, that has been flipped, and is ready to carve. [I probably should have taken a picture before we turned it over, but here it is...]



We have so many blessings, and are truly grateful for this time we had to be together as a family. We've each been making our thankful lists naming something each day we have gratitude for. There are too many things to name here, but we are thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the time we have between now and Christmas to focus on the wonderful gift of our Savoir's humble birth.

Quite the harvest

This past Summer in AR was Super HOT and Humid from early June until forever. For some reason some things in the garden could NOT grow in these conditions. Tomatoes were one of those items. But, in September, when tempertures finally reached bearable levels, the tomatoes finally became more than just plants. Tomatoes broke out all over. The problem is that there were not enough days for them to fully ripen. We took measures to cover the garden on nights it was going to be really cold and they kept on growing. On Thanksgiving day, we decided it was time to pick them. Some are close, but others are really green. So we will have fried green tomatoes and hope that most of them will be able to ripen now that they are off the vine.

Crazy Kid

Here's TMI (Too Much Information)...My little Spencer doesn't always put underwear on if left to get dressed all by himself. So, I've been checking lately to see if he has them on or not. The other day I asked him and he whipped down his pants to show me that he had none on. I sent him back to his room to put some undies on and he did and then proceeded to head outside withOUT pants on. I sent him back to get his pants on and this is how he came back...



At least he's wearing underwear, right???

A finished Quilt

I used the method of taping each layer of the quilt to the hardwood floor with masking tape and then pin basting it together with lots and lots of safety pins. Then I was able to get to quilting. (It's been a while since I stippled a quilt and it was fun.) It turned out mostly okay. There are a few places in on the back where the fabric bunched up a little bit. But here is the end result. Sid is excited to have her new quilt on her bed. She actually sleeps in the covers now and not just on top. (Which is good, because it has been colder here lately.) It's fun to accomplish a quilt and see the end result.



Now on to Kam's...

Christmas Dress from G-ma

Karen G-ma made this dress for our little one and we got it in the mail on Monday. Sidnie immediately had to put it on. Here are a couple of shots, so G-ma can see how it looks.

More Family photos

I purposely did NOT post this photo on the blog because I wanted it to be a part of our Christmas card this year and I wanted everyone to see it then for the first time. But, with the way the photo was going to be automatically cropped, James was going to lose part of his head. We opted instead to use a family picture where no one would be headless, so I'm posting this picture here now.



And here is the other picture that used to be featured on the blog, since I changed it to the one above.

Funny Girl

My little 3 year old Sidnie is definitely a Girly Girl. In the mornings when I am getting ready for the day, she is right there putting on lip gloss and any other make up that I will allow. And she is serious about her lip gloss. She puts it on two or three times before she is "ready." And shortly after she can be heard saying: "My lip gloss came off. I need to put on more." We are in for it when she is a teenager for sure.

Anyway, last night while getting the 3 little ones out of the bath, I said to Spencer: "Guess who is going to be your primary teacher tomorrow?" His response: "Who?" Zack yelled from his bedroom: "Mom!" Spencer said: "Really?!" Then Sidnie got a concerned look on her face and asked: "Will you still be our mom?"

Here's our S with a red leaf from our tree in her hair.

Family Photo Shoot 10/28/2011

On Friday, October 28, 2011 we had some family pictures taken. It's always a struggle to get a family of 8 (6 of them children) to smile all at the same time. Mom had a hard time not being in control and had to learn to just smile and not make "demands" on the children to look at the camera and listen to the photographer. We had a good time and got some great shots. [We should have probably gotten to the park a bit earlier for more sunlight, but we got enough that are great.] Thanks to Heather for all her hard work and talent and to Sayra for helping with hair and all.

Burns Park

Spence walking down the trail...

Zack swinging on the vine...
Spence swinging from the vine...
Spence, Zack and Luke on a log...
Claire and Sidnie on bridge...
C and S walking away down path...
C and S running away...
C and S again...

Spence in the trees and vines...

Maple Leaf Maniac

I know, I know! You've seen enough of my Maple Tree. And seeing pictures doesn't do it justice. It's way better in person. But, I just couldn't stop taking pictures. It made me happy. What a beautiful world God created for us to live in and enjoy.

Maple Tree on 10/29/11...

Red Tree on 10/31/11 (Halloween)...
J with my red tree on Halloween...
Two red leaves in the green grass 11/2/11...
Losing leaves 11/3/11...
A view from my neighbor's yard...

There was a rain/wind storm on Wednesday night. Lots of leaves came off the tree that night 11/3/11...
Almost gone now on Nov. 5, 2011...

It was a beautiful ride. I enjoyed the season.

Jumping in the leaves

This past week the weather was gorgeous for the first half of the week. Spencer was very excited to jump in the leaves, so when he got off the bus on Wednesday, I was waiting with the rake and we set out to make a pile they could jump into.

K, S and Z video...

Kam, Spence and Zack...
A shot with the tree in the background...

Spence video...

Spencer...
S throwing leaves...
Kerplop!
S resting in the leaves (nice shot of the tree again)...
Spencer high up in the tree branches...
Zack resting in some leaves he worked hard to rake into a pile...

Video of J Jumpking...

J...